Stamford company puts together events in Moscow
By Richard Lee
Advocate Staff Writer

A new Stamford business is already making itself known overseas through an agreement with a Russian business organization to co-host 10 business-to-business conferences and exhibitions in the Moscow area. The International Exhibition Group, in partnership with other prominent organizations, has established a series of marketing and educational events for global enterprises and buyers.

The first events will take place this spring with four financial conferences in Moscow. Although the Russian economy had been stumbling, it is righting itself and business opportunities are developing, IEG President Frank P. Fazio said. "With the extensive amount of investment capital flowing into Russia, especially the metropolitan Moscow area, there is a great need to address all areas of market investment," Fazio said. "Next year's conferences will cover banking development and reform, real estate management and acquisition, and franchising opportunities," Fazio said. "With the strong rise of commercial lending and investment in Moscow in particular, there is an immediate need for dialogue and supplier solutions."

The IEG management team have extensive experience in developing and managing some of the largest trade fairs in all of Eastern Europe. Lenny Pollak, chairman of IEG, was a founding principal in Comtek, one of the first "western" trade show organizers to move into the newly emerging Russian Federation in 1990. The company quickly became one of the largest event organizers in all of Europe and eventually was sold to a British concern in the late 1990s. Fazio was vice president of sales and business development at Comtek.

The first business-to-business expo IEG plans in Russia is the Banking Development & Reform Conference on April 29 and 30, 2003, followed by expos on real estate management and acquisition, franchising, personal investment, insurance, Russian entertainment and leisure trade, health and fitness club management, and agriculture development. Others in 2004 will focus on electronic trade and electronic business, Internet security, wireless and mobile telecommunications, insurance, toys and games, commercial healthcare, retail chains and outdoor advertising. Other similar agreements with entities are close to fruition in Ukraine and Romania, and shows should be started there in 2004. IEG also is using its contacts to negotiate with potential local partners for shows in Italy and Argentina. "What they're doing is fantastic, but I hope they can bring some Russian companies to the United States," said Costas Lake, director of International Affairs at the state Department of Economic and Community Development. One of Lake's other challenges is assisting Connecticut companies in exporting their products and services overseas, and IEG's business expos could be a means toward making those connections, he said. The arrival of IEG to Stamford further enhances the city's reputation of a growing foreign trading center, said Paul Edelberg, a partner in Stamford law firm of Rucci, Burnham, Carter & Edelberg, and president of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce's International Trade Council. "This is fertile ground for small- to medium-sized businesses doing business overseas," Edelberg said. Area companies could benefit from becoming involved with IEG, he said.

©2002 The Advocate. Reprinted with permission.